The Beckett Blog

Walter Cronkite, the influential journalist who delivered the news on CBS television for two decades, died on Friday. He was 92.

For millions of Americans, he was the voice of their history highlight reels as he brought the Apollo moon landing, President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas and coverage of the Vietnam War into living rooms around the country on the “CBS Evening News.”

Many will remember him as one who signed off his newscasts with “and that’s the way it is” and many more will remember him for his countless moments on the screen, whichever one applies most finely to their lives.

For collectors, Cronkite will be remembered on just a handful of trading cards like the 2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Mystery Cuts autograph card above, a one-of-a-kind card that has a signature from a signed CBS promotional photo embedded into the cardboard.

In fact all but one of Cronkite’s cards are made up of this fashion. He also had cut signatures in the 2005 Topps Power Brokers Cut Signatures set, the 2007 Playoff National Treasures Historical Cuts set and this year’s Upper Deck Spectrum Celebrity Cut Signatures set. Each of these cards are one-of-a-kind, name-your-price pieces of memorabilia.

His lone non-autographed card cataloged in the Beckett Media database comes in the 1977-79 Sportscaster Series 103 set, which shows him doing one of his favorite things beyond a studio. That card is valued at $20.

Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.